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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28664493">alex mercer and the tale of unaccepting parents.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>one step closer. [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alex Mercer-centric (Julie and The Phantoms), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming Out, Established Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Past Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Platonic Relationships, Pre Episode Nine, Rated Teen Because I Let Alex Say Fuck, mentioned carrie &amp; bobby/trevor &amp; julie, what's a straight person?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:28:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,659</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28664493</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>so i remember reading a book series where angels got their wings by helping humans, in which only one person could see them at a time. so what if that's a way for the phantoms to cross over: their unfinished business is helping others deal with things that they've gone through and already know how to handle.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>one step closer. [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2100708</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>alex mercer and the tale of unaccepting parents.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So what, you’re seriously doing this? After telling me, my whole <em> entire </em>life, that I’m destined for greatness, after supporting me for my whole life so that one day I’d be able to support you, you’re going to disown me because I like girls? Or is it because I’m not one?” Alex overheard someone say, in the house he'd just poofed into, one that almost looked familiar.</p><p>“Baby girl,” A man, their father, probably, said and they winced. “You’re just confused, okay. We still love you, we just don’t want to see you get hurt.”</p><p>“And why would I get hurt?” </p><p>“It’s a dangerous world out there, ma belle,” a woman, probably their mom, said, trying to act like she was on her child’s side. </p><p>“So you’re supposed to protect me then,” the child answered, “you’re supposed to tell me that you know it’s not always safe out there, but I’ll always have you.” </p><p>“And you do,” The father said, “you’re just confused, okay? I know that high school is a crazy time, but it’ll blow over. One day you’ll find a nice man, get married in this wedding dress your mom here is going to spend a fortune on, and settle down into your happily ever after.” </p><p>“But I don’t want to marry a <em> man </em>. I don’t want to get married in a dress.” </p><p>“Hey,” the mom started, “no one’s saying that you have to get married <em> now </em>. Just give it a few years,” </p><p>The kid took a few steps back. “You think I haven’t already? You think I haven’t spent years inside my mind, telling me that I had to be wrong, because girls didn’t like girls, because girls didn’t feel like they <em> weren’t girls </em>but weren’t guys either, but I know what I felt. I know what I’m feeling. I finally told you, after four fucking years of waiting, and you’re telling me that I’m wrong about myself.”</p><p>“Ma chérie, it’s okay to be confused.” The father said, in this voice that was trying so hard to be kind even though it wasn’t at all. </p><p>The kid let out a laugh at that, almost too quiet to be heard. “I’m not confused. Out of everything I’ve felt, out of everything that has happened, that’s the <em> one </em>thing I’ve always been sure of. I am who I am and that’s that.” </p><p>“I’m going for a walk,” the father said, stepping out of the room. </p><p>The mother, his wife, just followed him. “I’m going to work in the garden.” </p><p>That left the teenager alone, but only physically. </p><p>“What are you doing here?” They looked straight at the ghost who’d seen the endeavour. </p><p> </p><p>“You can see me?” </p><p>“Yeah?” The kid asked, confused as to why- “are you like, an angel, or something?” </p><p>“What?” </p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I-I’m Alex,” </p><p>The teenager stopped, blinking a couple of times. “So am I, well, I mean, it’s short for Alexandra and everyone calls me Lexie anyways but,” </p><p>“You don’t want to go by Lexie,” Alex filled in, ever the one with some sense. </p><p>“Yeah,” they breathed out, “so, hi Alex, nice to meet you, I’m Lex.” </p><p>“Nice to meet you Lex,” Alex said, fighting the urge to hold his hand out because <em> Lex couldn’t touch him </em>, “I’m not an angel by the way. I, um, I’m a ghost.” </p><p>“A ghost? Like Casper or those fuckers from Hamlet?” </p><p>“I-neither?” </p><p>“Are you going to kill me or not?”</p><p>“I mean, I’m still not sure why you can see me, so I’m gonna go with no.” </p><p>“Cool,” Lex smiled, climbing onto the kitchen counter that was behind them all of the sudden. </p><p>“Cool?”</p><p>“Well, what do you want me to say?” </p><p>“Fair point.” </p><p>Alex and Lex just sat in silence for a second, before Lex continued. </p><p>“How much did you hear?” </p><p>“Enough?” </p><p>“Yeah. You’d think that by now, in 2020, people would be cool with gay people.” Lex turned to Alex. “When’d you die?” </p><p>“‘95,”</p><p>“Damn. So you never got to see the world when gay marriage was legalized in the States, huh?” </p><p>“I never said I was-ok, no, no I didn’t.” </p><p>“What were you going to say?” </p><p>“How’d you know I was gay? And new to this ghost thing?” </p><p>“If I say that you give off a vibe, would you be upset?” </p><p>Alex thought about it for a moment, but it was a short one. “No.” </p><p>“Cool. You gave off a vibe,” </p><p>“Ok,” Alex said, taking the opportunity to use his favourite word in the English language. “Do you want to talk?”</p><p>“No, not really,” Lex answered. </p><p>“You don’t have to-” </p><p>“Why do you think I can see you?” Lex said, cutting him off. “Sorry,” </p><p>“It’s fine.” He paused, to think, or whatever it was that he used his brain for, “I’m not sure. But I don’t think it’s just some coincidence that I just, poofed in, or whatever, here, right when you were coming out to your unaccepting parents in a conversation not to different from my own ‘mom, dad, I’m gay,’ conversation. </p><p>“You were out to your parents? In the 90s?” Lex asked, like they were judging him. “I am <em> so </em>sorry. I mean, with AIDS and everything, that must have been pretty fucking terrible.”</p><p>Alex nodded. “It was. I’m not saying it was easy but I’d always been anxious as a kid - probably could’ve gotten diagnosed with anxiety or ADHD, if, you know-” he trailed off, just for a second, and forced a smile before he continued. </p><p>“But realizing I was gay was like putting an AIDS target on my head and I didn’t want to- I <em> couldn’t </em> face it alone. Bobby - he was a friend of mine in the 90s - and I went to the hospital together after I told him, trying to find a doctor who would talk to us, who <em> wouldn’t </em>hate us, and ended up staying over night and my parents found me and I told them, just like that. They didn’t kick me out or shout any slurs at me or anything like that, but they never told me they loved me after that.” </p><p>“Alex, I’m so sorry, you deserved better-” </p><p>“It’s okay, I had-have my friends. Sure, I might have died and all that, but I didn’t come back alone, you know. I have my two best friends in the world, and they’re more my family than the people who gave me birth could ever hope to be.” </p><p>“That sounds nice,” Lex said, sighing out as they climbed off of the kitchen counter. “Having your friends be like brothers to you.” </p><p>“I never said brothers,” </p><p>“Sorry, siblings. You’d think I’d be better at this gender-neutral stuff, huh?” </p><p>“No, I meant, they’re not like brothers, or siblings or whatever. That’d just be-weird.” He seemed to have noticed Lex’s confused look. “One of them, Luke, and I dated back when we were fourteen. He never fails to mention it whenever my boyfriend is around.” </p><p>“What about Bobby?”</p><p>“What?” </p><p>“Did you ever-” </p><p>Alex shook his head. “No, Bobby was like a brother to me. And straight. Very painfully straight.” </p><p>“Didn’t he spend all that time in the hospital with you, researching AIDS? Straight people don’t do that.” </p><p>Alex shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe he isn’t straight. All I can say is he was always flirting with girls, so he’s definitely not gay.” </p><p>“He’s the one who didn’t die, right?” </p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“You said you have two of your best friends, meaning they’re dead too and one of them is Luke but the other, the other isn’t Bobby, right?” </p><p>“No, the other’s Reggie. But after we died Bobby stole our songs and became this like huge musician. After he changed his name, of course.” </p><p>“To what?” </p><p>“Trevor Wilson.”</p><p>“...Fuck.”</p><p>“Why, what’s wrong?” </p><p>“I may or may not have had a uh, thing with his daughter.”</p><p>“Carrie?” Alex asked in surprise, the gears in his head visibly turning. </p><p>“Moving on,” Lex said, rushing, “I can assure you that Trevor is very not straight.” </p><p>“Oh.” </p><p>“He’s been out as bi for ages, longer than I’ve been alive, probably.” </p><p>“Damn.” </p><p>“So that makes none of your friend group straight. Unless Reggie is the token het or whatever.” </p><p>“Oh no, Reggie’s bi as fuck. He doesn’t know it, but he wears a leather jacket over his flannel so it’s not like he’s fooling anyone.”</p><p>“I don’t take it he cuffs his jeans?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“That’s a way you can tell if people are bi, they cuff their jeans.” </p><p>“Oh. I think my friend Luke does.” </p><p>“The one you dated?” </p><p>“You have a point.”</p><p>“So,”</p><p>“So,” Alex repeated. “I don’t really know what to do here.” </p><p>“Me neither,”</p><p>“I just wish I could tell you that everything would be okay but,”</p><p>“Yeah,” Lex said with a pained smile. </p><p>“Do you have any friends? Alive ones that you can talk to this about, maybe stay with for a couple of days?” </p><p>“Yeah,” Lex breathed out, “I do.” </p><p>“Good,” Alex said, “make sure they know that they’re appreciated and that you’re always there for them too.” </p><p>“Of course,” Lex said, “I already do.”</p><p>“I’m just saying,” Alex said, “cause not many people did that when I was growing up.” </p><p>“Well things have changed Alexander, some of them for the better.” </p><p>Lex went to pat Alex on the shoulder, but remembered he was a ghost and stopped themselves before their hand just went through. </p><p>“I’m just glad that you live in a world where you’re not alone, and that there’s someone out there who loves you.” </p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“Me, obviously.”</p><p>“We literally just met and we still don’t know why you can see me-” </p><p>“Just shut up and accept my love,” </p><p>“Alright, alright, I just wish we could hug,” Lex said, “because you look like you give great hugs.” </p><p>Alex beamed. “I do, don’t I?” </p><p>“Now come on, you should totally help me mess with my friends.” </p><p>“As long as we can make it special,” </p><p>Lex grinned, everything falling into place somehow, “abso-fucking-loutely.” </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ma belle and ma chérie are french terms of endearment which are my beauty (feminine) and my dear (also the feminine version), respectively.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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